When soft tissue such as a ligament or a tendon becomes detached from a bone, surgery is usually required to reattach or reconstruct the tissue. Often, a tissue graft is attached to the bone to facilitate regrowth and permanent attachment. Techniques and devices that have been developed generally involve tying the soft tissue with suture to an anchor or a hole provided in the bone tissue. Knotless suture anchors, such as the two piece Arthrex PushLock® anchor, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,329,272, have been developed to facilitate tissue fixation to bone.
It would be desirable to provide a knotless suture anchor system which has a design that allows tensioning of the tissue (particularly rotator cuff) after implantation of the suture anchors. Also needed is an improved technology for knotless fixation of the rotator cuff with easier suture management and increased tensioning of the rotator cuff.